First off I'm 22 which I believe puts me in the perfect position to have experienced the golden age of videogames. DOS->Windows Vista, NES->Wii. The first FPS I ever played was Doom 2. When my grandparents were buying a computer "an IBM clone" we went to a computer show where I was granted the opportunity to pick out any game I wanted.

Doom 2 plus a Simpsons mod disc won. I was 10 at the time and this game was pretty scary, probably not rated for 10 year olds. I cheated my way through the game and although I found the level design creatures and game mechanics interesting I was never very good at it. There were multiplayer options but I never got a chance to use them so I just ran around invincible killing everything in sight. From memory for the nostalgic: IDDQD, IDKFA, IDCLIP.

Fast forward a couple of years and dozens of games later and I went to a friends house who was playing his nintendo 64 in his parents bedroom. He was playing a game I'd never heard of called Goldeneye 007. And he handed me a controller so we could play against one another. I was happy to get a chance to play a new videogame but I wasn't aware of the pain I was in for.



In match after match he slaughtered me mercilessly. In a game with small but confusing boards, limited spawn locations and complex controls (for its day) I was severely outmatched. I remember playing the complex and having his sneaking through those crouching holes and blowing me away without me even knowing where he was. After about an hour his friend showed up to play with us, great I thought now I will have some time to breathe. Wrong again, apparently this friend had the game at his house to and the bastards would team up on me to deal out the punishment rather than facing each other.

No matter which set of choices I was killed again and again until finally...
Proximity Mines. (Yes I know this is a remote mine, google failed me.) These weapons were the great equalizer where for once the hunted could start setting traps. I would run through the boards putting mines around every corner, under the staircases and in general where they'd be most difficult to see. The friends (read: bastards) would go straight for the machine guns in an attempt to get the direct kill but I would line the halls with mines and hole up in places such as the bathroom of the facility. Eventually I became so good with these tactics that they refused to play proximity mines anymore.

After that I learned to adjust my skills for use with remote mines I perfected the throw and detonate maneuver to create a firewall surrounding my victim. Of course my opponents would use the mines themselves but this is what gave me the opportunity to work slowly with the zoom and aiming to practice shooting mines lying on the ground or attached to walls, eventually becoming quick and accurate enough to hold my own in straight out fire fights.

Sure it took a while and I still got my ass kicked plenty the confidence I gained from those cheap proximity mine kills are what enabled me to keep playing and learn to compete. Proximity Mines in Goldeneye 007 are how I learned not to suck at multiplayer first person shooters. How about you?

The Super Smash Bros. Brawl cover art has been released or so says Amazon. Nothing groundbreaking, no pictures of sonic and birdo. I'd say its standard high quality Nintendo work.

Are they all leering at each other or at you?

Today Star Wars Force Unleashed, (you know that star wars games with the ridiculous physics that we've been see videos of) has been annouced for a release on the Wii.

Waggle your Wiimote as if it were a lightsaber. Waggle the nunchuck to use your force powers. So how much of the force can you unleash?

"The Wii is a great platform for The Force Unleashed, because t he console's motion-oriented controllers really bring the game to life," said Jim Ward, President of LucasArts. "We' ve worked hard to make the Wii version of the game unique in order to truly let you unleash the Force."

I hope for the Wii's sake that this implementation will be as impressive as it sounds because the last thing the Wii needs is another red steel.

[edit: I almost forgot, freeze yourself until Spring 2008]

via TheForce.Net

In God of War: Betrayal of Christ kratos has been magically transported into the body of JC just before his death. In two exciting levels of hack and slash action you will destroy the entire roman empire, persian empire, chinese empire and the jews.

I for one blame GIS: Betrayal

If you are like me you've been religiously checking Smash Bros Dojo every morning as soon as you wake up since the day the site was launched. This morning I read some uninteresting news about how there were going to be "Smash Attacks" in Brawl and was about to shrug it off as just more fluff when I noticed this gem.



Notice the sideways wiimote only controls "Press 1 and 2 Simultaneously", this feature alone could be groundbreaking. I've always had a hard time in the heat of battle controlling the Forward A attack with the Smash Forward A attack which serve two entirely different purposes. This simple control modification will eliminate those problems and make quicker/faster play possible.

Take for example Sheik from Melee, Forward A is a super fast roundhouse that sends enemies straight into the air (or just high enough to roundhouse them again and again). Smash Forward A is a slow double roundhouse that hardly damages enemies and leaves Sheik exposed for long periods of time. In melee you could easily slip up and use the wrong attack, in brawl you will be able to 100% control the timing of these moves.

I didn't think it was possible, but again I am even more psyched to play this game.